"It's a shame that a judge who's resolved a case should have to leave the country"
Jorge Molano, spokesman for the victims in the Palace of Justice massacre of 1985, lamented the situation of María Stella Jara, who ruled against Alfonso Plazas
The statement made by the president, Alvaro Uribe, in favor of colonel Alfonso Plazas Vega, condemned to 30 years in prison for the disappearance of 11 people in 1985 during the taking of the Palace of Justice, put in risk the judge who made the ruling. She has left the country due to threats made against her, according to the victims' spokesman, Jorge Molano.
In an interview with the Efe news agency, Molano confirmed that judge Maria Stella Jara has left Colombia due to a lack of safety, and also that she released an order for the condemned, retired colonel Alfonso Plazas Vega, to present himself in prison immediately. This order has not yet been obeyed.
"The judge had to leave the country for security reasons; there were requirements for protective measures to be taken by the Colombian government, but these were not carried out as proposed," claims the spokesman. On top of this, "the statements of present Alvaro Uribe, in which he considers excessive the rulings of the Justice branch, have increased the risk to the judge," insisted Molano.
The lawyer was referring to the declarations made by Uribe just after learning of the sentence two weeks ago, when he signaled that the sentence was "creating a panorama of judicial insecurity that goes against the maintenance of public order in Colombia." The president also demanded "impartial justice" for the armed forces and advocated in support of colonel Plazas Vega, in favor of a special law for his protection.
For Molano, "The government has decided to enter in the rupture of Constitutional order and to break with the principle of independent Justice in Colombia," for which "the rule of law is frankly weakened and discredited." These facts "call into question the possibility that in Colombia there may exist an independent and impartial administration of justice." Molano added that, "The administration of justice in these circumstances comes from [the executive branch] and from private actors."
According to the lawyer, "The fact that public servants and their rulings are publicly attacked is a way of violating the direction of the [different branches of] power." Furthermore, he claims, "It is painful for Colombia and for the world that a judge who has resolved a case in which justice was practically exterminated should have to leave the country only because there was no collective desire to carry out the resolutions of the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights (CIDH) and of the United Nations."
Molano alluded thus to the security measures requested by the CIDH and to the warning of the UN that Lara was in danger. "It leaves us with a bitter taste because in Colombia the possibility of justice is diminishing, because the government has decided not to protect those who work for justice," insisted the spokesman for the family members of those who disappeared during the military occupation of the Palace of Justice to repel a capture by the M-19 guerrilla group.
In that action, which left more than 100 dead in two days, eleven people disappeared after leaving the Palace alive. They were a mix of Justice Palace employees and guerrilla fighters. 25 years later the party responsible for this crime has been determined: coronel Plazas Vega.
Molano, who admitted that he too is under threat, for which he travels with a bodyguard and in an armored vehicle, called Lara's sentence "historic" and is profoundly sorry that she has had to leave Colombia due to the threats launched against her and her son. In his opinion, this ruling "vindicates the right to truth and justice, which is the first building block for ending impunity."
Molano informs that the judge, before leaving Colombia, ordered "the immediate transfer" of general [sic] Plazas Vega to the prison, from the Military Hospital of Bogota, where he is currently admitted. But Molano added that the National Institute for Jails and Penitentiaries (Inpec) "hasn't carried out" the order, despite Molano's insistence that there exist reports from Legal Medicine that confirm that the retired colonel "has no mental or physical illness" and that his stay in the hospital is only an excuse to avoid prison.
"If they don't want to carry out the order we are going to accuse the director of Inpec for crimes of fraud and legal impediment," added the lawyer, who is allowing "a time frame of 24 hours before establishing cause for trial." Inpec sources told Efe that they had not yet received the transfer order for Vegas Plaza [sic], which Molano roundly refuted.
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